The Economic Impact of Astronomy in Hawai‘i

The astronomy sector in Hawaii generates economic activity through its purchases from local businesses, its payment to its employees, and spending by students and visitors. In collaboration with the Institute for Astronomy, a survey was designed to obtain information from astronomy related entities about in-state expenditures. The collected survey data was used to estimate the astronomy sector’s total economic activity in each of Hawaii’s counties for the calendar year 2012. Following a standard Input-Output approach, we define economic impact to be the direct, indirect, and induced economic activities generated by the astronomy sector’s expenditures in the state economy, taking into account inter-county feedback and spillover effects.

Local astronomy related expenditures in calendar year 2012 were $58.43 million, $25.80 million, $1.28 million, and $2.58 million in Hawaii, Honolulu, Kauai, and Maui counties respectively. Total astronomy related spending in the state was $88.09 million. Including indirect and induced benefits and adjusting for inter-county feedback and spillover effects, the astronomy sector had a total impact of $167.86 million statewide. The largest impact was found to be in Hawaii County ($91.48 million), followed by Honolulu County ($68.43 million). Impacts were found to be relatively small in Maui County ($5.34 million) and Kauai County ($2.61 million). In addition to contributing to output, astronomy activities generated $52.26 million in earnings, $8.15 million in state taxes, and 1,394 jobs statewide.

The Economic Impact of the University of Hawai'i System

The University of Hawai‘i (UH) generates economic activity through its purchases from local businesses, its payment to its employees, and spending by students and visitors. This report estimates UH’s total economic activity in the state of Hawai‘i in fiscal year 2012. Following a standard approach, we define economic impact to be the direct, indirect, and induced economic activities generated by the university’s spending in the state economy.

The Contribution of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to Hawai‘i’s Economy in 2012

The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) generates economic activity through its purchases from local businesses, its payment to its employees, and spending by students and visitors. This report estimates UHM’s total economic activity in the state of Hawai‘i in fiscal year 2012. Following a standard approach, we define economic impact to be the direct, indirect, and induced economic activities generated by the university’s spending in the state economy.

Although one can think of the UHM as if it were one of many businesses or industries in Hawai‘i, an important difference between UHM and most private businesses is that UHM gets a substantial part of its funding from taxpayers. In FY2012, UHM and the supporting RCUH (Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i) spent a total of $878 million in support of its education mission; the State General Fund paid $198 million of the total. Adding money spent by the privately funded UH Foundation, spending by students, out-of-town visitor spending related to UHM sponsored professional meetings and conferences brings total UHM-related expenditures to $1.40 billion in FY2012, 90% of which was spent locally.

Overall, the $1.40 billion of education-related expenditures attributable to UHM generated $2.45 billion in local business sales, $735 million in employee earnings, $131 million in state tax revenues, and slightly under 20,000 jobs in Hawai‘i in FY2012. This represented approximately 3.4% of total jobs, 2.5% of worker earnings, and 2.2% of total state tax revenues.

Looking to the future, the university’s Hawai‘i Innovation Initiative ( HI2 ) plans to more than double the UH system’s current level of extramural research funds from less than $500 million to an ambitious $1 billion per annum. If the HI2 successfully doubles research expenditures, our analysis suggests more than 5,000 new jobs would be created from the ripple effects of the research spending alone, independent of any technology transfer and other jobs created as a direct result of the research.

Staffing Structure of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Peers, and Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities

This study examines staff support at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UHM) vis-à-vis its peer group (Peers) and all 4-year public Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities (DREU). More specifically, we compare the averages of the ratio of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to FTE faculty and FTE enrollment across the three groups; UHM, Peers, and DREU. We present results for the following support staff categories: executive, administrative, and managerial; other professional (support/service); technical and paraprofessional; clerical and secretarial; skilled crafts; and service/maintenance.

The Contribution of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to Hawai‘i’s Economy in 2007

The University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UHM) had its beginnings in 1907 as a college of agriculture and mechanical arts. In 1912, the first permanent building was erected in Manoa valley in UHM’s current location. With the establishment of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1920, the College of Hawai‘i became a university. Statehood and the establishment of the University of Hawai‘i as the "state university" marked the beginning of a period of accelerating enrollment that resulted in the formation of a large diverse system. In 1965, the State Legislature created a statewide system of community colleges and placed it within the University of Hawai‘i, and in 1972, the flagship Manoa campus became the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

Staff Support at UH Manoa: A Comparative Analysis

This study provides a comparative analysis of the staff support at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UHM), its peer group (Peer), and all 4-year public Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities (DREU).i To evaluate whether UHM is providing too little or too much staff support to students and faculty, we compare the ratio of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to FTE enrollment and the ratio of FTE staff to FTE faculty across the three groups of schools. In addition to aggregate staff comparisons, we also evaluate specific support staff categories: executive, administrative, and managerial; other professional (support/service); technical and paraprofessional; clerical and secretarial; skilled crafts; and service/maintenance.

State Financing of Research Universities: The Role of State and University Characteristics

This study estimates the effect of underlying determinants on state funding of Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities (DREU) in the U.S. Using panel data on 98 DREU over the period from 1987 to 2002, we estimate the effect of a variety of DREU and state characteristics while controlling for institutional level unobserved heterogeneity. Unlike previous studies, we focus solely on DREU, so our estimation results are driven by the within variation of DREU, not by the between variation across different types of universities and colleges. We consider determinants not previously studied such as the competitiveness of programs and quality of students, the mix of degree programs and professional schools, the degree of research orientation of a university, the effects of economies of scale (number of students), the cost of providing education services, and other state characteristics. Not surprisingly, we ﬁnd that these variables are important factors determining state funding of DREU. Finally, we provide four case studies to illustrate the use of our model in evaluating the funding position of various universities.

Funding the University of Hawaii at Manoa

The composition of funding at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) has changed markedly over the past decade. While experiencing tremendous growth in funded research activities, and modest growth in tuition revenues, state appropriations have grown relatively little. As a result, the share of total funding coming from state appropriations has declined significantly. This report extends the work of Lee and Bonham (2006) by providing more detail on the funding of UHM and by comparing UHM to its peer group.

The Contribution of the University of Hawai‘i to Hawai‘i’s Economy in 2003

The University of Hawai‘i had its beginnings in 1907 as a college of agriculture and mechanical arts and became the territoryís Land Grant College, a designation that remains today. With the establishment of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1920, the College of Hawai‘i became a University. Enrollment growth in the early years was slow, but the close of World War II and increased educational demand fueled by returning GIís increased the Universityís enrollment to over 5,000 students in the 1950s. Statehood and the establishment of the University of Hawaiëi as the ìstate university marked the beginning of a period of accelerating enrollment that resulted in the formation of a large diverse system. In 1965, the State Legislature created a statewide system of community colleges and placed it within the University of Hawaiëi. In 1970, the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo was founded. In 1989, West O‘ahu College, an upper division institution opened in 1976, was renamed the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu. The flagship Manoa campus became the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.